


fate can't break this feeling inside

by RobinTheSpotlight



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bobby Singer (mention) - Freeform, Character Study, Charlie Bradbury (mention) - Freeform, Claire Novak (mention) - Freeform, Dean is a Sweetheart, Gen, Introspection, Jack Kline (mention) - Freeform, Jody Mills (mention) - Freeform, Mary Winchester (mention) - Freeform, Relatively Lighthearted, Rowena (mention) - Freeform, Set in some relatively near future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 18:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17187857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinTheSpotlight/pseuds/RobinTheSpotlight
Summary: He had never thought he would be happy, but he was.Dean reflects on his past, present and family over the holiday season and is pleasantly surprised at what he finds.





	fate can't break this feeling inside

His life was surprisingly like what he had expected, yet entirely different at the same time.

He was still a hunter; he would always be a hunter. The job, lifestyle, that had been branded into his mind since he was a child was part of who he was. It was important to him in the same way his baby was important to him, the same way his name was important to him. A fundamental building block that made him who he was.

If he was not a hunter then he was not anything. He’d learned that the hard way through Lisa and Ben, but at least he had learnt it.

He would still sit in motel rooms with Sam, staying up researching the latest ridiculous monster and eating shoddy diner food. That was a part of his life he had predicted.

Now, though, they had a place to return to; a place to call home. When they finished up with the hunt, they could return to their ‘house’ (Not a traditional house but home nonetheless) curl up in their own beds in their own bedrooms and relax with no threats until the next time they decided to go and find a hunt. He had never expected that from his life.

Another difference in his notion of his future and the reality was the company. On their hunts, they would not be restricted to the presence of themselves and their drill-Sargent father. They had another brother, who they could trust with every piece of themselves. Sure, his history with the now-humanised angel was sketchy and filled with deceit and violence, but he was part of their family now and always would be. It was… satisfying to be as close to another person as he always had been to Sam. There was less pressure when he could trust somebody else to keep and eye on his brother and vice versa. Cas was a part of his life he could never have predicted, but Team Free Will wouldn’t be the same without the three of them.

Something else he never could have predicted about his life was his son. Technically _their_ son, Jack was everything that he, Sam and probably Cas would have never thought possible to wish for. He’s only died once; probably a Winchester record. And that is what they were. A group of Winchesters, a family closer than anyone else would ever understand.

Dean had never realised how many people were involved in their family, and it made him laugh. It really was different to the days in the company of two other people; an entire battalion of friends and family ready to help if anyone needed anything, ready to ask for help if they needed it. It was no longer him and Sam and dad; family was him and Sam (obviously) and Cas (who surprisingly isn’t dead) and Jack (who still seems too young for all this hunting business despite him aging like a normal ‘real boy’ now) and Mary (who seems too old) and Bobby (who seems even older) and Charlie (who is still a little painful to be around) and Jody (he still calls her ‘mom’ accidentally sometimes) and Claire (who is less angsty now) and Alex (who is a nurse now) and more who weren’t _quite_ as close like Rowena (surprisingly) and Ketch (more surprisingly), and even the ones who were dead like Kevin (it still hurts after so long) and Kaia (he wished he knew her better) and Kelly (who is apparently doing _great_ in heaven) and John (who he is guiltily _glad_ is in heaven) and their Charlie (who should never have died) and their Bobby (who still yells at them from heaven when he can get a good signal) and Adam (wherever his soul may be) and Ellen (their third mom) and Jo (their second sister) and maybe even Crowley (he sometimes misses the snark) and maybe even Mick (whatever happened to him and his crappy facial hair).

He was not surprised it had taken him this long to understand and realise this. A steady trickle of family had started entering the bunker; after separate celebrations for Christmas, they were going to bring in the new year with a wild party at the most central location with the most beds. When he and Sam had returned from their speedy werewolf case in some town in the middle of who-knows-where Iowa, Cas and Jack had still been at the bunker; Jack had a pretty bad cold over Christmas time, so he and Cas stayed back instead of joining them on the hunt.

It was still strange returning to a warm greeting in a warm home.

Jody and her girls were on the way; he had received a text on the way back to the bunker. Mary and Bobby weren’t coming around until the day after next; cutting it close on New Year’s Eve itself. He was 70 percent sure that Charlie was in some depths of the bunker already, probably trying to find more ‘cool’ weapons to ‘borrow’. He was glad that Sam had convinced her to stay near with them all; even if she didn’t hunt as much, her research skills were very, very useful and she made a damn good fake ID.

A few days later, everyone was in the bunker. Rowena had dropped by for the ‘wild party’, but Ketch had not; he was probably off in Britain doing probably-illegal probably-pointless English things in his England. Anyway, the bunker was jam packed with Team Free Will 3.0; the best team that had existed so far. There was drinking, there was laughter, there was no overhanging fear of everything being imploded by some violent end-of the-world evil being (at least that they knew of).

Dean knew he would spend his life hunting, and he was still hunting.

He knew he would spend his life with his brother by his side, and he was still there.

He knew that he would lose his father one day, and he had.

He knew he would die, and he had. A lot.

He never thought he would have another brother, a son, his mom, a sister, a family.

He had never thought he would be happy, but he was.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaand done! My first fanfic. I swore that my first wouldn't be Dean POV; I always prefer reading Sam so assumed that is what I would have gone with, but oh well. I hope you liked this lighthearted little piece. I'd really appreciate comments if you liked (or didn't) enjoy. Have a good day to you all.


End file.
